Re: Evolution Online

Liam looked at the single drop of crystalline teal liquid inside the vial and clenched his hand. He now had the elixir but that didn't mean that things were going to be easy.

In fact, he had a feeling that the actual difficult part was yet to come. 

From the way Rey had struggled, it was clear that the elixir did so much more than simply removing impurities. Not to mention incredibly painful.

Especially considering that Rey had taken the medicine at a lower level and the elixir he had taken was also not the complete one, Liam could only imagine what the effects of the real one would be.

"Luna, it's better that you stay in a different room."

Kyuuuuu

The fox shook her head resolutely.

"No. It's not debatable. Rey attacked the other people in the room. What if I also attack you?"

Kyuuuu

The fox shook her head again.

"Too bad. You have to listen to what I am telling you."

Liam picked up the fox by the scruff of her neck and brought her over to the room next to him. He then paid for that room as well and booked it for an entire day.

Kyuuuu

Luna pitifully looked at him, but Liam shook his head. "I will come and get you soon. I promise." He then went back to the room with the stone tablet and the garden inside.

He directly entered the pond once more and opened his mouth to pop the contents of the vial. Almost instantly a warm feeling shot through his body and his vision darkened.

Huh? Liam was shocked. He expected severe pain or some sort of substance leaking out of him first just like how it happened to the others but what was this.

There was complete darkness all around him.

All of a sudden, this darkness disappeared and a black hooded figure stood in front of him. He had a purple sword just like Liam and his stance was also similar to how he typically stood.

"A mirror image of myself?"

Before he could understand what was going on or where he was, the figure in front of him instantly moved.

"Wait. This is the effect of the elixir. I am just inside my head. Snap out of it. Snap out of it." Liam quickly mumbled.

But nothing was happening.

The black hooded figure attacked him with a horizontal cut and Liam narrowly missed by backing away awkwardly.

"What is happening? This is not real. SNAP OUT OF IT!" He shouted loudly but nothing was changing. 

He was still in the same weird dark space and the hooded figure was attacking him relentlessly. 

All of his moves were similar. They were undoubtedly his own habits but they were a lot more perfect. They were difficult to evade.

"I guess I am going to have to fight here?"

Liam did not see any other way through this and started swinging at the madly charging figure. The two of them clashed and both were pushed back.

The next time Liam started casting a fireball and the figure opposite him pulled out a big black sphere of energy.

The two of them clashed one more time and the black sphere completely decimated the fire in Liam's hand.

"You are weak. You are not capable of protecting anyone. You will once again fail and perish." The figure opened its mouth and shouted.

The hoarse voice rang loudly in his ears preventing him from thinking anything at all. 

Liam shook it off and moved. If mana attacks were not enough then he switched to nether. He conjured the same black sphere and rammed it against the figure.

Whatever attack he used, the other figure used and whatever the other figure used, he used as well to counterattack.

CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.

Metal clashed with metal and all sorts of attacks flew from one side to another but without any specific result. Everything was either countered or evaded.

The fight went on for a while because both of them were evenly matched. However, as more time passed Liam started getting tired but the other figure still continued attacking relentlessly.

If things continued like this, then Liam knew that he was going to lose. He had used everything he knew but it was not enough.

"Damn it. Can I only get through this if I improve myself right now?" He gripped his sword tightly, trying to find a way out of this mess.

If there was any technique that he could improve easily… 

Liam immediately tried the illusion technique. He dashed towards his evil twin, appearing as if he had split into two and the next second, the evil twin as well split apart.

There were now four people on the battleground.

"Damn it." Liam gritted his teeth. This was not going to be easy.

Meanwhile… the pond Liam was sitting in rapidly churned. 

And it did not churn simply, it was also absorbing huge amounts of mana, much more than what was available in the atmosphere. 

It tapped into the very veins of the building and started absorbing mana like a black hole. 

If it had been an abandoned ruin or some other sort of treasure land perhaps it would have gone unnoticed but this was the PVP tower in the middle of the city.

And inside this same PVP tower… on the topmost floor… a pair of eyes flashed open angrily.

"Again? This bastard is stealing from my mana reserves again? Unbelievable!" An incredibly old man shivered in anger. There were even traces of jealousy present on his face as his long beard trembled.

He got up and went inside a room angrily, banging the door close behind him. The two other disciples standing in the same place looked at this weirdly before exchanging knowing glances.

After all, they had been with their master for a long time so they knew about him very well. Whoever made him angry was going to pay for it.